Tag: USA

Turkish president admits US pastor is political hostage

September 29, 2017 Turkey Binali Yildirim, Coup, Donald Trump, Fethullah Gülen, Izmir, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, USA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has for the first time confirmed publicly that a US pastor jailed in Turkey for the past 12 months is being held by his government as a political hostage. In a speech at his presidential palace yesterday (28 September), Erdoğan openly called on the United . . . Read More

Worldwide blasphemy cases highlighted in USCIRF report

September 26, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Ahok, Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Gad Younan, USA

In its push to see blasphemy laws repealed worldwide, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released a new report referencing some of the most high-profile cases. ‘Selected blasphemy cases’ highlights the well-known trials of Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama in Indonesia and Asia Bibi in Pakistan, alongside . . . Read More

Saudi schoolbooks ‘teach students to hate those of other faiths’

September 18, 2017 Saudi Arabia Children, Education, Islamic extremism, Saudi Arabia, Sunni, USA

The Imam Turki Bin Abdullah Grand mosque in the capital Riyadh. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Students in Saudi Arabia’s schools receive religious education that “contains hateful and incendiary language” towards other Islamic traditions than Sunni Islam, and severe criticism of Jews, Christians and people of other faiths, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report says. The comprehensive review of schoolbooks for religious studies for the 2016-17 . . . Read More

US ‘sidelining’ role of religion in diplomacy is ‘devastating’

September 11, 2017 Iraq, USA

Shaun Casey (centre) in his role as Special Representative to Cyprus for Religion and Global Affairs of the State Department of the United States of America, speaks during a press conference at the end of a meeting with the religious leaders of Cyprus in March 2016.

The elimination of the Office of Religion and Global Affairs within the US State Department by the Trump administration is “devastating”, writes Shaun Casey, and shows its failure to understand the importance of the role of religion in diplomacy. In his article for ‘Religion and Politics‘, Casey, former US special . . . Read More

‘Small window to act’ to restore Christianity in Middle East

August 22, 2017 Iraq Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Syria, USA, Yazidis

As Christians are returning to Qaraqosh, Iraq, many have called for action if Christianity is to stay in the Middle East. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

“If something bold is not done by the United States and the international community, I believe we will see the end of Christianity in the cradle of Christendom and a loss of religious and ethnic diversity throughout the region,” says former US Representative Frank Wolf upon his return from a . . . Read More

Cuba: pastor returns to work after arrest for home-schooling

August 18, 2017 Cuba Communism, Cuba, Havana, Ramon Rigal, USA

A Cuban pastor has been told he is permitted to work again as a church leader, six months after he and his wife were arrested for home-schooling their children. The Cuban government had cited Article 315.1 of the country’s Penal Code, which states: “Whoever induces a minor to leave his . . . Read More

IS guilty of genocide, says US Secretary of State

August 17, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Al-Shabaab, Andrew Brunson, Blasphemy, Donald Trump, Genocide, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Lord Alton, NATO, Pakistan, Qatar, Rex Tillerson, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Taliban, Turkey, USA, Wahhabism, Yemen

The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has stressed that the actions of the Islamic State (IS) group against Christians, Yazidis and Shia Muslims constitute genocide, and also criticised America’s ally, Saudi Arabia, for religious freedom violations. Tillerson made his “genocide” comments in the preface to the State Department’s annual . . . Read More

Korean Peninsula a ‘powder keg that needs true peace’

August 9, 2017 South Korea North Korea, Seongju, South Korea, USA

A plaque showing the countries who were involved in the Korean War 1950 - 1953 can be seen at the North-South Korean border. (Photo: Open Doors International)

As the tension between the US and North Korea increases, the Korean Peninsula itself “is a powder keg ready to explode and cause another war”, warned Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-jong, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, at an interfaith meeting in Seongju, South Korea, to commemorate the end . . . Read More

Iraqi Christians returning to Nineveh Plains after 3 years ‘need protection’

August 7, 2017 Iraq Iraq, Islamic State, Jordan, Kurds, Lebanon, Nineveh Plains, USA

Iraqi women and children are demonstrating in front of the UN office in Erbil where they present a declaration to the UN calling for protection of minority groups on 13 August 2015. (Photo: Open Doors International)

Three years after Iraq’s Christians fled the Nineveh Plains, driven away by the Islamic State group, human rights lawyer Ewelina Ochab has charted the movements of the Christians and evaluated the likelihood that they will now return. A report published earlier this year showed that 50% of Iraq’s Christians have . . . Read More

Sudan demolishes another church, but MPs block school on Sundays

August 4, 2017 Sudan Donald Trump, Education, Justin Welby, Khartoum, Omdurman, Religious freedom, Sanctions, Sudan, Sudanese Church of Christ, USA

The Baptist Church in Omdurman that was demolished this week. (Photo: Open Doors International)

The Sudanese government demolished another church on Wednesday (2 August), the day after Members of the Khartoum state parliament rejected an order by the Minister of Education for all Christian schools in the capital to open on a Sunday. The Baptist Church in Omdurman, across the Nile, just west from . . . Read More

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